Smoking piles of laser-cut corpses are all that remains of those carbonized by overcharged beams and collapsed into squirming halves by robotic fists in the corporate AI-driven dystopian mirror-world of London, England-based death metal quintet MUTAGENIC HOST who present the fallout of plagued skies and apathetic civilians on this apocalyptic debut LP. The death-drive is given cartoonish malevolence, madcap villainy sourced through the collective inventive nature of mankind who appear willed to wipe the face of the Earth free of life as the metallic hardcore influenced bounding of ‘The Diseased Machine‘ tells its tale one riff at a time. As it turns out showing up with a serious string of riffs and all the right curation can quickly outclass the bland status quo presented by ‘new old school’ death metal’s lack of quality control, that is to say that this debut is immediate as an ear-gripping force and captivating for the moshable (yet never stupid) fusion proposed by its rhythms.

Mutagenic Host formed prior to 2023 between an international set of folks who I believe are all based out of England today, most all of them having some manner of hardcore bands (World Weary, Tension, etc.) in their immediate past. Naturally the we can expect a ‘new old school’ treatment of death metal which takes inspiration from the second-gen metallic hardcore dynamic (re: Hatebreed, Stampin Ground, et al.) and while I understand many readers will stop right there I’ve got an argument for this particular album in mind: It isn’t that late 90’s tough guy/beatdown hardcore influenced quasi-‘old school’ death metal is bad per se, it is that most bands are clearly more studied on either end of the spectrum and/or many find too clear a balance of sub-genre in their act that it all reads as generic, unrelated to the deeper notes of each underground. In the case of these folks and their first tape (‘The Genotoxic Demo‘, 2023) there is a full-fledged death/hardcore crossover going on here which leans toward death metal riffcraft but inserts the ear-grabbing, slow-down-and-fight feeling of pit ready hardcore on an (smaller) arena-sized scale. I’m not saying you’re getting ‘Perseverance‘ with death metal vocals but I think a fan of say, ‘Breed the Killers‘ would immediately appreciate the groove-leaning stamp of a song like “The Twisted Helix”.

The sound and the overall furor of Mutagenic Host translates as expected from demo to longplayer as shades of both British and Floridian death metal secure the majority of the riff haul up front. The first several songs are longer than the ~2-3 minute average sustained by the tape and there is otherwise some concerted effort to build both a cohesive listening experience and a narrative via sci-fi/horror sounds, an corpo AI-fueled apocalyptic narrative which uses dark ambient (+ some vocal clips) to illustrate a post-plague hit tech Hell. The first several songs, particularly “The Twisted Helix” and the barn-burning opener “Neurological Necrosis”, aren’t exactly as hardcore coded as say Terminal Nation or Kruelty yet the stylistic intent of the band is made clear enough on the first half, fusing what I’d consider metallic hardcore pump-action unto classic death metal inspired compositions. Without disparaging a lot of the more popular bands attempting this combination and/or some manner of similar crossover ‘The Diseased Machine‘ finds a superior thread within its glowing fuchsia brutality up front, outshining the less capable riffcraft of a couple hundred bands that’ve attempted similar threads beyond the ass-end of the 2010’s.

You’ve probably heard several records along these lines before and that familiar paradigm is still at play here per the sub-genre reassignment but I’d make a brief argument here that these folks have songs to some degree, pieces that are abrupt and memorable enough in their immediate effect that experience sticks. The biggest riffs on hand best communicate the general pain-grooves of the metallic hardcore experience and in this sense the production values are stiff but not obliterated by unworthy riffs. Death metal riffs still count as a most necessary part of each song’s shape (re: “Artificial Harvest of the Obscene“) where we find space for thrashing grooves filled by more linearly cut, pit trampling fusion (“Organometallic Assimilation”) and this is the most crucial dynamic trade which keeps the ideas flowing, fresh yet oppressive in their overall effect. As the album burns on into its second half pieces like “S. W. A. R. M. (Systematic War Against Restless Machines)” hint at a return to the album-defining heat of “The Twisted Helix” in a more blunt fashion, finally giving us the gang-shouted hoopla implied previous. From my point of view these were defining songs on the full listen spin after spin but not the full extent of what Mutagenic Host are capable of.

By the time “Promethean Dusk” hits the full listen of ‘The Diseased Machine‘ has strained its greater verbage as the knack of its central riff generator wanes to some degree while the surprising interruptions that’d peppered the first half largely tap out. That doesn’t mean the album is a drag in its second half but you’ll have to be up for a few songs which are kinda plain and/or comparatively direct along the way, nothing offensive or all that standout. That said I’d appreciated that closer “Rivers of Grief” landed as an intentional endpoint and not just a fade out of scene. The full listen is deranged by its apocalyptic sci-fi narrative and helped quite a bit by its rush of riffs out the gates, making a loud and admittedly heavy first impression and ducking just as the well beings to run dry.

What the noveau moderne death metal/hardcore paradigm has yet to offer to (actual) underground death metal fandom yet is a true study of the dynamic of the complete hardcore record (be it in the early or late 90’s sense) and differentiate from the more broadly known references in mind but in the case of Mutagenic Host they’ve made a riff album out of it which stands out among many slow-to-advance and blandly iterative peers. Perhaps more importantly for my own taste it makes for a solid death metal album with plenty of serious attention paid to theme, apropos production values, art curation (via the brilliant Mark Cooper) without appearing like typified followers in the process of amping up to full-length status. It makes for a well above average debut LP. A high recommendation.

NOTE: The CD version of ‘The Diseased Machine‘ releases January 20th.

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